A Rainy Saturday!
And this time I do get to stay home and read and write and watch the rain! May go out to Sonic for lunch, but only if David is willing to drive!
Our world has changed dramatically this week - David went to the doctor on Wednesday about some swollen lymph nodes in his neck, and at this point it is being treated as a possible cancer. He had a CT scan on Wednesday, and a needle biopsy on Thursday. We don't have the results yet, and now that it's the weekend, we won't have them until Monday. I've started an email newsletter to keep family and friends up to date on what is happening. If you would like to be on the list, write to me at sjschuette@hotmail.com, and I'll add your name.
The official launch is Tuesday, and the celebration is Monday evening, but if you go now to www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net, you will see the thing itself! The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture! It really is a shift of gears to have it all out there. The focus has been on getting it ready to launch - now the focus is on adding to it and developing other phases of it, etc. And I don't know if long term I will be a part of the continuing project or not. But my name is on this part of it, and I think it is something to be proud of!
A Letter From Chicago
I had the Sisters of Mercy on my list to call to be sure that they had gotten the material I sent to them last week, c.v. and writing samples. I didn't call today, and when I got home tonight, there was a letter from them. They said they appreciated my sending the packet, but they have moved into conducting interviews. They are keeping my material "pending the outcome." So - guess I won't be going to Chicago for an interview! Too bad! At least I have my c.v. in order now!
Tonight I am finishing up some reading for the Coleman Creek Greenway Committee at UALR. We have our first real meeting tomorrow and will be "walking the creek." I'm not sure if that means we are actually walking in the creek, or just along side it. I need to remember to wear my hiking boots because I need ankle support in places like that, and I also think I will take David's cane. They are going to have photo op for the office of communications when we first start off. I'm excited about being on this committee. It is about developing a creek that runs the length of the campus - my position on the committee is that I am an alumnae - the voice of the student.
Hope you can see it !
I know just a little bit about html. A few weeks ago I made the sidebar narrower and the main comment section wider by going into the html code and changing it. Tonight I have been working on putting in an explanation of the title of this log by working directly in the code. I saw the need for that after I spent time with Rob Dennie the other day and saw that he didn't know how to say it or what it meant. I had said that in the very first post but not since then. I hope the explanation helps.
I'm not sure how successful I have been at making the changes this time. Sometimes I have previewed the page and it was there, and sometimes it wasn't. I will keep trying.
Today has been a cool enough day that we had the house open most of the day. This evening the breeze left us, and without that it began to get stuffy, so we closed it up and turned on the AC again. I have spent most of the day sitting in the chair on the front porch reading The Boys on the Tracks, drinking coffee and eating lunch. David was gone in the morning, came back around lunch and then went out again in the afternoon, so it was quiet all day. I did a little laundry now and then. I'm grateful for the time to relax. Tomorrow evening I will have some homework to do for the Coleman Creek Greenway Committe I'm on, which meets on Tuesday.
Friday - Finally!
A rainy cloudy day - was raining pretty steadily when I first got up - thanks, Mom, for calling me when I didn't call you at our agreed time! How many times I sleep through the alarm, when it's not two feet from my head!
Boy, would today be a nice day to stay here! Make a cup of coffee and go sit on the front porch with my book and my journal, work on my writing later, take a walk down Cow Patty Trail! But instead I will get ready and go to work, have lunch with Mary Boaz from the Alumni Association at UALR so I can talk to her about my being an alumnae on the Coleman Creek Greenway Committee. And tonight I will go to Stammtisch and speak a little German.
I sent the application packet to the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago earlier in the week - haven't gotten a confirmation, which concerns me - I will call them on Monday if I haven't heard anything by then. And today the packet for the job at the Clinton Presidential Center goes in the mail. There was a way to do it online, but I realized at about 12:00 last night that it would have meant retyping most of my resume to fit it into their form and then finding a place today to fax a copy of my college transcript. Good old snail mail seemed more logical!
The job application process has been occupying my brain for a few weeks now. With those on their way, I need to begin work on the next logical step in my research/writing. I think that will be to begin transcribing the immigrant letters. And this weekend I have some reading to do for the Coleman Creek Committee.
As I have been writing this two deer have run across my line of sight, from the woods down behind our house, through the yard and across the road. One was running really fast and ran right in front of a car, which fortunately was able to stop without hitting it. The other one came a minute or two later just ambling along, checking out where his buddy had gone, I guess!
I have some more to report - what I learned this week about RSS feeds and blogs (I give in!) and how I might have a simple website to support my plans to do contract research, and the response to a thesis support group, which was positive. But I'd better get on my way.
Some things accomplished
It has been a productive and pleasant weekend overall - a little warm, and we are too stubborn to turn on the air conditioning yet. Friday I mentioned the booklet of instructions for the job at the Clinton Library. I read that and did some work on the application packet itself. There is still a lot to do - it is due Friday, but I'd like to finish it by Thursday, if not before.
I have finally finished tinkering with my c.v. (I think!) and have written the cover letter about the job in Chicago. As soon as I get feedback for a couple of my trusted advisors and make whatever changes they suggest (if I agree with their suggestions, that is), I will get that sent off, hopefully tomorrow night. One other thing I accomplished was to write up my response to some unsettled matters from the PR related meetings held the other day. That was a challenge, but now it is done, and I don't have to think about it again.
Today was really nice. We went to church at Christ Episcopal - they have an awesome pipe organ - we haven't heard that kind of music in a long time, and it was great. Then we went on a buffet cruise on the Arkansas Queen. I took quite a few pictures. Hopefully I will have time to download them tomorrow and post a few of them. Several are of the Clinton Library from the water side - interesting!
Tomorrow morning I need to make two follow up phone calls for jobs I have applied for. I as such a wuss - I really dread making phone calls! But it must be done, and it could make the difference in my getting an interview or not getting one! I'll post here about how it goes.
Now perhaps I can get a bit of The Boys on the Track read before I go to sleep.
Friday Night
I got my membership information in the mail today for the American Historical Association, and one of the bulletins has an article Do's and Don'ts of an effective c.v. and cover letter. Good timing, because that is what I will be working on tomorrow. After looking it over, I know that there are some things I need to add to and rearrange on my c.v. And can you believe that the application for a job with the National Archives (in this case the Clinton Presidential Library - still can't quite believe that there is a Presidential library a few blocks from the office I work in every day!) includes a 14 page booklet on how to complete the application! I think just getting through that will be a challenge.
Well, I did call my mother every morning this week, and I know it helped me stay focused and go into each day with a better attitude. Plus I stay more up to date on what is going on in her life. She has a new set of teeth as of Tuesday, and that is going pretty well for her, all things considered.
I have decided that I need to buy a new suit for the Encyclopedia Launch Party that is coming up on May 1. This is a huge event for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas project, which has been an important part of my life for three years. (Visit us at www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net - now that's an informational site ABOUT the Encyclopedia, but after May 1, it will BE the Encyclopedia)
Besides that event, a new suit will be helpful for upcoming job interviews - I know there will be some! Day to day I'm much more comfortable in casual slacks and knit tops, and I hope the job I end up in will be able to accept me that way. But first impressions will count for a lot, so an "interview suit" will be a good investment.
If anyone out there in blog-land knows a way I could attach documents to this, let me know. I would like to include the c.v., but not necessarily as part of a regular post. Any thoughts?
Happy Easter -
I thought of it
Pundits - that's the word I was looking for yesterday, the people who were political commentators and who have figured out how to earn a living from their blogs!
Today will be an interesting day - I have a couple of personnel-related conversations scheduled. My goal is to express myself clearly and with dignity. (Funny! I sat here looking out the window and thinking about that, and kind of zoned out, and when I came to - or woke up, rather, I've been awake since before 5:00! - there was a whole string of k's on this post! That means that the middle finger on my right hand is heavier than the others!)
There are four jobs that I am in the process of applying for. For two of them, the applications are in, and now I have to make follow up phone calls. For two of them I still have to get the application packet ready. I have my CV done - have gotten a few suggestions back on it, so I need to incorporate those, and then send off the packet for the position in Chicago. ASAP. The other one is a federal job with the Clinton Presidential Center as an archives technician. They have very precise requirements for how the applications need to be done. The closing date on it is Friday, April 21, so I have to do a lot in a short amount of time.
Right now I think I want to supplement my coffee with a bit of food and get on with my day.
So much to learn -
I heard someone on the Diane Rheem show say that he works full time at his blog! That's not my goal - I think he was already a writer or political commentator - there's a word for that, but it escapes me at the moment. Anyway, I wondered how someone could earn a living - and he said, without giving numbers, that he did pretty well - at blogging! (Aside: I guess I have to get used to using the terms the rest of the world uses, even if I don't like the sound of the word!)
But there was the option of including ads by Google on my own site - that's the little box you see above my post, and I noticed the other day that it was offering a thesis writing service! I hope no one thinks I condone that, although I can see how it would be tempting! The theory is that if people who visit my blog click on the ad, I get credit for each click. And if it ads up to some amount of money, they send me a check - I think I'm a long way from being able to quit my job, however!
Seriously, though, I want to learn more about the way this works and the connections it would allow me to make and whether anyone who is interested in the same things I am would use a site like this to share information and experience. I get a daily email from a woman who organized online book clubs and now it is her full time job. Maybe there is a way to do it. But there is so much to learn, both about how the process works and about who out there would use it. And also about how you get income from it!
For instance, what are RSS feeds, and how would I use them, either as the person wanting to share information or as the person wanting to keep up to date on what others are sharing? I read some about it yesterday and asked the writer some questions, but his answer used terms that I still didn't know the meaning of. I need a simple glossary. The thing I need to be sure of is whether in the long run, it will accomplish what I want it to, or will it just be another distraction.
This morning I woke up with a headache - sometimes I grit my teeth in my sleep, and that causes the headache - took some medicine, drank some coffee, sitting here kind of quiet, and it's better - so I think I'm ready to go on to work -
I talked to Mom, and the process yesterday went pretty well, although she still has some uncertainty about how it will all turn out - will she have a pretty smile? Of course she did anyway, but I understand her concern. So I encouraged her to ask questions when she goes back to have it checked on.
If anyone reading this can tell me what the word was that I was trying to come up with in the first paragraph, let me know. Off to work now -
It's not easy being green
I put these green signs up to remind me that I made an agreement with Mom when we talked on Saturday. Sometimes we need a nudge in the mornings to get us up and into our day - more than an alarm clock, the sound of someone's voice, someone that you can talk to about how you feel and what the day ahead looks like. I knew I needed it, and I thought maybe it would help her also - so we agreed to talk for a few minutes at 7:30 on weekday mornings - afterwards, I put up the sticky notes. "Call Mom" it says by my lamp and by my computer and on the mirror in my bathroom.
And it helped this morning - when the alarm went off, I turned it off and DIDN'T go back to sleep. That was at 7:00, and by the time I called her at 7:30, I had showered and nearly finished all the other stuff about getting ready for the day. It really was a big help with my attitude going into the day, which made the day go better. So I'm grateful.
Tomorrow when we talk I will get to encourage her about her day - she's having her teeth pulled to get dentures!!!~ Thank you to Erin, who is taking her.
Saturday evening
Tonight I wrote a letter related to an application for a position with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. It's for a preservation outreach coordinator - the more l look at the job description, the more I think it would be a really good fit for me. The application period closes on the 12th, so I will wait until then to call to follow up. And Georgia reminded me today of a job I had submitted a resume for and forgotten that I did - as program specialist at the Clinton School for Public Service. I will call them on Monday to follow up. Still working on the paperwork for the Chicago job. Things have gotten in the way this week - I'm not giving up on it! I promise!
We ate supper out on our patio this evening - not a big supper - a sandwich from Schlotzky's that I brought with me when I came home from work. The patio is still a wonderment - will have to work hard to keep ahead of grass and brush on it - being out there is really nice, so it will be worth the effort.
I am reading The Boys on the Tracks by Mara Leveritt, about two boys who were murdered near here about 19 years ago, probably because they witnessed some activity related to a drug ring. Leveritt does a really good job of telling the story, of letting the evidence unfold - a good example for me - a good read.
I love the weekends
This evening we got home in time to sit on the porch and read for a bit before it got dark. We both have tasks we plan to do this weekend, but we will start with going to Sonic for breakfast - we've done it several weeks in a row, and it is becoming a nice tradition.
I have to work for a few hours - of the 600 packets I need to have ready for my boss by tomorrow afternoon, I have about 420 ready, and the rest of them partly done. It will take a few hours to finish. Then I will spend the rest of the day finishing up the two job search tasks I have in front of me - still trying to finish that CV!
One of my Lehrerinen told me today about the class/support group they had at her school when she was working on her dissertation. Each person involved would bring samples of the work they had done, at whatever stage in the process they were, for the group to respond to and help them with. I realized that, even though I have finished my thesis, I have a project I want to accomplish. It is a continuation of the work I did on my thesis and would itself be a good thesis, should I need to write another one (bite your tongue, Shirley!)
Briefly, here's the deal - one man who came to Arkansas with a group of immigrants in 1833 and stayed 3 years before returning to Germany, wrote letters to his family. I have copies of those letters, and they are really interesting and thoughtful and full of information about the immigrant experience and also about Arkansas during the time just before statehood. I want to translate the letters and get them published.
That will be my project. While others talk about a thesis, I can use the group meetings to help me get going on that project. Any insights that readers here can give will also be appreciated
Thursday morning
It is kind of a hazy morning, although it looks like it could clear off soon. The yards and fields are at the point where I hate to see people start to mow because the color from the small purple and yellow flowers will go away, and all we'll have to look at will be a nicely mowed yard or field. The dogwoods are still nice to look at, although they are starting to go to leaf in many places.
My big task at work this week is seeing to the preparation of 600+ packets of PR material for the Encyclopedia for the Project Director to give out at a conference this weekend. The Arkansas Historical Association meeting is being held in Mountain Home starting this evening, and I realize that from a purely personal/professional standpoint, it would have been good for me to go. The main subject of the sessions doesn't interest me, but I need to network, you know! But it's too late now.
I invited some other students who are still in the Public history program and working on their thesis to get together for mutual support. It is something I thought of doing while I was still working on mine, and it just seems like a good time to do it. I'd like to light a fire under the people at the History Department at UALR to have them add a staff member whose job it was to support the students in their thesis work - and then hire me!
But I guess I'd be better off spending my energy pursuing jobs that already exist out there! I'm still working on the big writing job in Chicago, and then there's another one in Little Rock that I sent an application on and need to follow up. Right now, though, it's time to get ready and go to the job that I do have now!
Picture us
The tulips in the yard to the east of the house. If you look closely, you can see a thin slice of the lake across the road, at the right edge of the picture. This was David's first year to plant tulips.
This was on November 23, 2005, the day before Thanksgiving. I was waiting outside the meeting room for it to be time for my thesis defense.
This is me and David on October 8, 2005, on the patio that David built behind the house. We had just a few friends to witness the renewal of our wedding vows - we were married 35 years last August.
My goals for this place
I used to write almost daily in a journal, and it really helped my attitude and my energy and my mental health. I haven't been doing that for quite a while and it shows - this may fill that void, in spite of the limits of it being more public than a journal.
One thing I really miss, that I had when I was still in school, is people to talk with on a daily basis about things other than work - there isn't anyone where I work now that I have hit it off with like that, and others are not always reachable, since our paths don't easily cross- this may also fill that need.
My hope is for it to be a tool to help me focus on my goals and to discuss ideas with other people, and not something to distract me. Accountability. It really helped when I was finishing my thesis, and I'm hoping it will now. And I hope I will be honest enough with myself and with my audience, whoever they might be, to acknowledge when the tool is becoming an obsession.
I have changed the settings so that I will get an email when a comment is posted. That way, I should only be coming here when I want to post - instead of checking it many times a day to see if anyone has added a comment! :-)
Sunday morning
There's still a lot to do on my task for the weekend - did I say it was the task for the day?- Silly me! I did make progress - I picked one of my writing samples, I entered some of the information on my CV and found I was missing some also and had to write and ask for it. What I was doing looked kind of sloppy and disorganized, so I went looking for samples online.
I learned one thing - samples CVs on a website from the UK are actually what we in the US call resumes - still, the site I was looking at there had a lot of helpful information - and an intriguing name! It's called www.businessballs.com - (hmm, guess I'm linking to it! Learned something new on how a web log works!) - I'm not necessarily endorsing what the site owner says, but he does have some good points. One thing that is probably good advice for me is, write like you would talk, but get to the point! People familiar with both my talking and my writing might say that's an oxymoron!
So obviously I have a lot to do yet, and I woke up with a headache this morning - could have had something to do with the fact that I decided to stay up to see if the clock on my computer would roll over from 1:59 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.! (It did) I took some medicine and am drinking some coffee, and I think it is going away -
David wants me to go to lunch and the pool with him today, and that seems like a good idea. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have the CV done, with the exception of the information I had to send for, and I will have the other writing samples chosen. That will just leave the cover letter.
We had a storm last night, and it is hazy and cloudy today. David's tulip patch looks good - I went out a bit ago and took some picutres. At some point I will learn how to attach pictures to these posts -
For right now, I'm going to finish reading the paper. Cheers!
Procrastination
Today my main task is to prepare the application for the position at the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago. I have to do a CV, choose some writing samples and write a cover letter. So basically I have to figure out how to present myself in a way that will prompt them to take a chance on interviewing me. I have to paint a strong positive picture of myself and say it in a believable way (and for me it is important to say it honestly, to not exaggerate). That in itself is a challenge, but the bigger challenge is to do it while I'm thinking that they probably wouldn't hire me, and if they did, I'd be scared to death! My sweet friend Georgia told me the other day that she often heard me selling myself short - so today I will try not to do that.
Why the title "procrastination"? Because when I have any writing task in front of me, that's what I do! And I'm going to do one more thing before I start on it. I'm going to send a message to my old thesis support group and tell them about this web log. Writing here helps me, but it will help me more if it becomes a dialog. And it won't become a dialog unless I tell people it is here. And maybe if it becomes a dialog, it will also help those who join in the conversation!
It's a hazy cloudy day here in Central Arkansas. David and I are hoping the weather will allow us to have lunch on our patio for the first time this spring.
